Chapter 2 detailed notes

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School

University of Toronto Scarborough

Department

Psychology

Course

PSYB30H3

Professor

Marc A Fournier

Semester

Winter

Description

Chapter 2 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN NATURE The study of persons must begin with human nature. Bad nature The Christian churchby virtue of original sin, we are all fundamental bad. The book of GenesisAdams and Eves original sin, passed down from one human generation to the next. All the words great religionsnatural state of human is fundamentally flawed in some manner, need a deliverance from the original state. Good nature Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Shelly and Keatshuman nature is fundamentally innocent and good, noble and pure at birth. John Lockehuman nature is a blank slate (tabula rasa), ready to be shaped in to any form by environment. EVOLUTIONARY HERITAGE Principles of Evolution A fundamental property of living things is that they propagate, making for the continuity of life from one generation to the next. Steve Pinker Individual organisms are the product of a long chain of evolutionary events whereby replicating systems essentially compete for limited resources, successful systems can produce more viable copies for the next generation. As environments change, designs of organisms change, not in direct response to environmental changes but simply because some designs of organisms will prove to be more successful in promoting replication than others. Darwin www.notesolution.comAll existing living forms have evolved over time in response to their interactions w environments. Facing limited environmental resources for survival and replication, organisms compete w one another, and ultimately the fittest designs win out. The key to evolution over time is natural selection Nature gradually selects those characteristics that promote survival and reproductive success. Organisms possessing the advantageous characteristic should live longer and produce more offspring. In this way, nature selects and causes to persist, the most adaptive characteristics in a species. Genes are responsible for the inheritance of characteristics. Genetic mutation may render the organism less left; may make for accidental advantages (e.g. lactose tolerance) Through evolution, organisms have been designed to function such the genes that lie behind those designs are replicated in subsequent generations. The evolutionary imperative is to replicate the genes. The selfish gene (Richard Dawkins) Genes aim only for: self-replication. Persons are designed to engage in behaviors that ultimately make for the replication of the genes that determine their design. Two ways that persons can promote the likelihood of replicating in the next generation those genes that are responsible for their very design and existence. 1) to generate and promote ones own biological offspring 2) to promote the production and well-being of those who share the same genes. e.g. a woman has no offspring, while her sister have six children=three offspring www.notesolution.com